Machine for manufacturing sewing-machine needles



Machine for Manufa.

NQ. 240,872. Patented May 3.1881.

4 3 Sheets- Sheet 1. E. WILDER. sturing Sewing Machine Needles.

l I I E. WILDER. l A

.Machine for Manufacturing Sewing Machine Needles, No. 240,872. V s Patent d May 3,1881.

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No. 240,872. 4Pat-@nwemay 3,1881.

imm/em' Y Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

ELIHU WILDEE, 0E MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

MACHINE FR MANUFACTURING SEWING-MACHINE NEEDLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,872, dated May 3, 1881.

I Application filed J' une 2, 1877.

To all whom 'it may concern Beit known that I, ELIHU WILDEE, of Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Manufacturing Sewing-Machine Needles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form `a part of this specication.

Figure lis a top view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a view of one side. Fig. 3 is a view of one end. Fig. 4 is a partial section across or a' of Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are details of several working parts.

A is a main driving-shaft, on which are pull. leysA and A, and also a crank-handle. This shaft is supported iu bearings upon a bed or frame inthe )ordinary manner, and may be driven by hand by the crank-handle, or by belts running over pulley A or A, but A" may be dispensed withand shaftAbe shortened toA.

At the end of shaft A is a worm-screw, B,

r engaging with cog-wheel B on shaft B, having at its upper end beveled gear B", which engages with a bevel-wheel, C, on the end of a cam-shaft, D, which passes through the machineW and is properly supported in frames d d d d, and on it are two cam-cylinders, E E', and around it, at its middle, is a hollow shaft, D', which 'is supported upon bearings d d.

On shaft D is a carrier, O, which holds the blanks for the various operationsof the working-tools.

On shaft A is a pulley, a, which, by a cord or belt, a', connects with a transversely-arranged pulley, b, on a shaft, b', which is attached by proper bearings to a lever or pivoted plate, b. (See Fig. 6.) On saidshaft b is a small grooved feed-roller, b' andimmediatel y under it another grooved roller, ZW, independently supported upon its own standard. Plate b is pivoted at z, and its other end is operated upon intermittently by a small cam, e, on a short shaft, e', supported on two ofthe frames d d. On this shaft e', at its outer end, is a cogged pinion-wheel, e", having a part of the 'roller 11"", and as it has a rotary motion by the pulleyb, the wire which is placed between the rollers b" 11 is fed into the carrier O to the length required.

On the shaft e', which is continued `beyond the frame d, is cam e", which operates upon f the endof a lever, f, and at the proper time clamps the wire, as represented in Fig. 5 by a black dot.

On `the cylinder of thecam is a projecting tooth or cam f, which operates upon a knife, f', by means of a projection on its end, (seen at fm', Fig. 5,) and operates the knife j" to sever the wire, when spring f causes the knife to return to its place again. Ihe lever f is then released. The wire blank thus severed is moved by the carrier O one `step forward to the irst toolspindle g, and operated upon to shape the top end. The clamp-lever which holds it passes, in the movement, the recess O in the outer rim, as seen in Fig. 3. The wire is somewhat loosened, and the end thereof passing on the surface of cam at O in Fig. 1, the wire is shoved through the carrier O as far as necessary to be operated upon by the varions tools.

The tool-spindle g, just referred to, carries a socket at its inner end, in which is the tool for shaping the upper end of lthe needle-blank. Motion may be given to it by any means. In this machine it is by a p ulley, g', which is operated by a band from A. This spindleg` is supported upon a slide, g", having on its reversed side a pendent bar, gf', which works in a cam-groove, h, in cam-cylinder E, and which cam-groove h moves forward the slide g and spindle g at the proper time to dress the blank.

On top of the frames d d, and supported by them, is a small shaft, F, on which, at one end', is a cogged gear having some eogs removed, and on one side a tooth, which gear and tooth IOO are similar to gear-wheel e on shaft e', previously described, and for the same object.

On shaft F, at its inner end,is a crank-wheel, F', which carries an adjustable pawl,f, which is attached to a sliding wrist in the crankwheel F', which is made adjustable by means of the screwsiz'. (Seen in Fig. 2.) On the same shaft F is a cam, i', which operates a lever, Gr, intermittently, and which works a sliding rod, G', which enters holes Gr in the side of the carrier regularly located therein, and by which the carrier is held, the springj causing the rod G to be withdrawn at the proper time. The pawlf operatesintermittently, by the motion of the shaft F upon a ratchet-wheel, f', which is fastened to the carrier and moves it correspondingly.

On shaft D is a cam-cylinder, E', having a Y suitable number of cam-grooves, R; and on the frames d d, which support the shaft, are corresponding sliding plates K K K, which have studs that ent-er the cam-grooves, and by which the cams give a reciprocating movement to the slides, by which the tools are carried forward to the blanks and returned again. g Y

i On one of the slides K are two tool-spindles', which in this case are attached to the same standards and move together 5 but they may each have its own slide and move independently of each other. On these spindles are pulleys and tool-sockets for any suitable implements to operate upon the blanks as they are brought up to them by the rotation of the carrier.

On slide Kl is a standard, to which is pivoted a bifurcated lever, L, carrying an arbor, l', pulley Z, and grooving-saw l, by which the groove is cut in one side of the blanks. Motion may be communicated to the pulley l or arbor l by any convenient means. The lever L is operated by a connecting-rod, l, which moves tlrough the slide K', and is guided on the stud 7o by a loop, l'.

On the cam-cylinder is a surface cam, J, which, in the revolution of the cylinder, raises the end of the lever L, and thus moves the saw down to the needle blank, which is supported below in a grooved guide-bar, u, Fig. 4, while the slide K is moved toward the carrier O so far as to give the lon g groove to the needle-blank, and the cam-cylinder E is so constructed that various forms of surface cams J may be substituted to cut the groove in the needle to varying depths. In the outer end of lever L is an adjustment to regulate the depth of the groove. The lever is brought back to its position by means of a spring.

On sliding plate Kl is another bifurcated lever, M, carrying a similar arbor, m, pulley r11/,and saw m, as just described. This lever is pivoted at its end m', consequently the vertical movement of the saw is the reverse of the saw Z'-z'. e., outwardly-by the rodm l, which is lifted by the surface cam J on the cylinder.

Attached to the slide Kll is a grooved guidebar, a', to sustain the needles, as in the one just described. This saw is designed to cut the short groove in the needle on the opposite side from the long groove. On the same slideplate K is another hollow arbor, o, and pulley o, attached to a slide-plate, Fig. 7, which is operated by a lever, N, pivoted to the stud 7c, which is moved by the cam-groove in which it is placed.

To the slide-plate K isalso attached a grooved guide, u, that sustains the needleblank in place; and in the hollow arbor o is placed either a punch to punch the eye of the needle, or a drill, w, to drill the same, if necessary, in which latter ease the pulley o is used to rotate the drill by having a cord or band, or any motive power convenient thereto, which drilling or punching devices may be placed on an independent slide, and is so situated as to insure the proper direction of the eye in relation to the grooves by the needle-blanks in the carrier being firmly held in position until the grooving and punching or drilling are completed.

O is a carrier, on the periphery of which are arranged any convenient num ber of clampingtools, p p, which have their ends p projecting beyond its circumference. rlheinner ends of the clamping-levers are made to clamp and retain the wire blanks by the pressure of the outer ends against a rim, P, extending around the wheel just so far as the nature of the Work to be done upon the blanks may require, so that when the articles shall have been completed they may be released by the clamps and allowed to drop out of the wheel.

The intermittent revolving feed-wheel, the

concentric rim, and clamp-levers, as above described, are shown in another pending application tiled by myself.

At O the space between the rim and the carrier is slightly increased, so that as the lever end 1J arrives at that point the clamping-jaw which holds the wire will be sufficiently loosened to allow the wire to be forced through the carrier as the end of it impin ges upon the cam-surface of O".

The carrier is rotated by means of a ratchetwheel, f, on its side, and a ratchet-pawl, j, which is attached by a wrist to an adjustable slide in a wheel, F', on the end of the shaft F, which at its other end has a pinion that is moved intermittently by the curved rack c as it rotates with shaft D and cams, so that in the regular movements of the shaft and cams the ratchet shall be rotated intermittently to move the carrier with the wires from one tool to the next in regular and consecutive order, the rod G being operated from the same shaft F by a cam, i', on it, which moves the lever G,

as before described, to retain the carrier O in position while the work is being performed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent; isz- 1. The combination of the carrier-wheel O, clamping-levers p p, the concentric ring P,

IOO

IIO

r with a grooVing-saw, the drill for forming the eye, and feeding mechanism on the opposite side of the carrier, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the rack c, pinion e, shaft e', with suitable cams, lever b, with its feed-roller b, Xed roller 11", the cutter f', and lever f, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, substantially as described, of a blank-carrier, with a dressi 11g-tool on each side and a drilling-tool located relative thereto, whereby two ends of a blank may be dressed and a hole drilled transversely to the axis thereof. 

